How Emotional Pain Effects the Body

Emotional pain and physical pain are closely intertwined, I have discovered. When someone hurts me emotionally, for example, it can make me feel worthless inside. Dark thoughts assault my brain. If I fail to resist them, I start questioning who I am. Depending on the trauma involved, I may even question the reason for my existence.

As miserable thoughts pound my head, my ears begin to hurt. My nose runs, my ears tear up, and my throat aches. I can picture an invisible hand trying to choke me. Coincidentally, the German word for flu is Grippe, like something horrible that has you in its grip.

A little over a month ago, when a certain phone caller was causing me intense emotional pain, I came down with a bad cough. I also had a sore throat and fever. A coincidence? I don’t think so.

At first, I wondered if I had the flu because I wasn’t getting better. I also thought it might be strep because it came with a sore throat that went away for a while only to return with a vengeance.

It wasn’t the flu and it wasn’t strep. It was pneumonia.

My mother-in-law died of pneumonia the year before. I wasn’t about to follow in her footsteps. So, as much as I don’t believe in relying on doctors to heal me, I was desperate and sought emergency care. The medicine I received made me better physically, but upsetting circumstances in my family caused me intense emotional pain. As one bad report followed another, I struggled to keep my healing. The trauma definitely slowed down my recovery time.

At times like those, the only things that keep me alive are knowing Jesus loves me and remembering His promises. For when the devil tempted Him to turn stones to bread to end his fierce 40-day hunger pangs, He answered with scripture. “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Deuteronomy 8:3).”

We should receive His Word as we receive any other food from God: with praise and thanksgiving. If anything will help cure emotional pain, that will. I know because I’ve taken this remedy often, and can testify to the fact that it really works. That’s not to say the pain will not come back. However, as I learn to thank and praise the LORD amid the trauma pressing on my mind, the hard feelings begin to subside. In my mind, I hear the demonic thoughts that lie behind the emotional pain. As I rebuke those thoughts, I start to see more clearly. The forgiveness that flows from God’s presence ends every torment. Joy replaces sadness as I tap into God’s grace.

There is healing for me in God’s presence, healing Jesus purchased for me through His death on a cross. Through Him I Live and by His stripes I am healed (Isaiah 53:5).